hey pals, I just finished reading sally ride: america’s first woman in space, by lynn sherr, and here’s a collection of my fave sally ride facts:

her favorite constellation was orion, because you can find it so easily

one of her first jobs was babysitting. she made the kids pb&j sandwiches, but they wouldn’t eat them because “the peanut butter was on the wrong side of the bread.” sally threw out the sandwiches and never babysat again.

she stopped drinking coors beer when she found out joseph coors had opposed the equal rights amendment

she told the u.s. ambassador to norway that his rape joke wasn’t funny

exxonmobil gave millions of dollars to her “sally ride science” teacher training academies. it was a business compromise between an oil company and an environmentally proactive nonprofit, and during each keynote speech, sally would make a comment about “oil spills” or “oily money” and glance over at the exxonmobil rep before moving on.

she had a border collie when she was a kid, and two bichon frises with her partner, tam.

watching barefoot contessa was a daily ritual, and she loved ina garten’s meatloaf

when her relationship with tam started getting serious, tam asked “is this forever?” and sally responded “I can’t think more than five years ahead.” so every five years, tam would ask her “are we renewing?” they ended up being together for 27 years. when she was dying of cancer, sally told tam “I wish I had another 27 years with you.”

I originally had something slightly different planned for today – you’ll get that tomorrow, dear listeners – but I also was not planning on getting to spend two hours with the Lovelace Administration tonight, either. Or, subsequently finishing this major part of this project. So, let’s hear it for some of the most wonderfully rendered, maddeningly complex, space-loving, ass-kicking women I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know for the past three seasons. It’s been a privilege ✨

- Polish accent. Ever heard it? (in a polish accent) It is a lower tone than a regular English, hard “r”s and thick voiced endings spoken through the front of the mouth.
(pause) I was born in Warsaw, you know. Polish is my first language that’s the way that English wants to sound when I speak it.

- So, why doesn’t it?

- Because, Eiffel, I moved to the United States when I was eleven. And I didn’t speak a word of English. And when you’re in the fifth grade in school in a stupid little town in Northern California and you sound like THAT? Huh… You’re like a wounded gazelle. You say one syllable and every other kid just knows that you’re… something. Something weird. Something alien. And they don’t let you forget.

- So you got rid of it?

- (bitter laugh) When you put it like that. You ever tried to change the way you speak? Do you know how hard it is to change everything about how you sound? How you breathe? So that maybe MAYBE someday people’s impression of you will be based on who you are. Not WHAT you are?
(pause, deep sigh) But… I never changed my name. I’m Minkowski. That’s also a part of who I am.

- Why are you telling me all of t_

-BECAUSE. Imagine how it would feel if after all of that, after years of service, when you’ve got your own command, when you finally think you’ve got the respect you deserve there’s someone there who always says it lieutenant commander Renee MinCOWski.

- Oh.

- Yeah. Oh.
(pause) Mincowski. Mincooooowski.
Don’t you think that that would make it all come rushing back? Every time?

- Why… didn’t you…you never said!

- Yes. I did. You don’t remember but I did. I’ve stared having this conversation with you five times. Hell, even now you’re barely in a place where you’re listening to me.

- I… I… I thought you didn’t care.

- Well, you pick your battles, Eiffel. When you’re in a place like this you really ask yourself which fights are worth having. And sometimes even things that really hurt aren’t… enough.

- Why tell me now? After all this time?

- Well. You got a scare today. Usually when that happens people stop what they’re doing and pay attention. Something might sink in.

- I tried you know. When we first met. I… I knew I was saying it wrong. I was so nervous around you and I… I kept making the same stupid mistake. And I really-really tried to cut it out, but then we started fighting and it… yeah. It just kinda stuck.

- Well, that's’ the thing about you, Eiffel. You try. You really-really try. And then… you stop trying. Don’t stop.

-

Extract from podcast Wolf 359, season 4 episode 51 “Shut down and listen”
written and directed by Gabriel Urbina
Minkowski played by Emma Sherr-Ziarko
Eiffel played by Zach Valenti

Hey there! I've been wondering if you have any visual references for your characters? I guess it might be kinda hard to separate from the VA--but if Wolf 359 was a tv show, do you have any actors you'd like to play the core four? Or at least someone who looks like you imagined them?

(real answer: I have my own personal head canon for how all the characters look, but I’d rather keep that private for the time being. I think there’s at least a little bit of fun lost in the writer flattening things out by saying how the characters are “supposed” to look, and I do very adamantly believe that no one’s take on how the crew looks is wrong. As for a theoretical Wolf 359 TV show, here’s my dream cast: Zach Valenti, Emma Sherr-Ziarko, Michaela Swee, Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs, and Scotty Shoemaker.)